New Little Caesars building to highlight pizza with facade

DETROIT (AP) — A new nine-story building with a unique exterior made up of 14-foot-tall, pizza slice-shaped glass sections will highlight an expanded Little Caesars headquarters in Detroit and could bring 700 jobs to the city, the company announced Wednesday.

The pizza chain released updated plans and renderings for the Little Caesars Global Resource Center, details of which first were unveiled in late 2014. The company said it needs the extra space amid rapid growth, including recent expansion to new foreign markets, such as Australia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Panama.

"We're proud to build an exceptional workplace right in the heart of the city that helped make Little Caesars one of the world's largest pizza chains," David Scrivano, president and CEO of Little Caesars, said in a statement.

Plans for the Global Resource Center include a 425-seat training room, a test kitchen and a glass-covered, open air terrace. Little Caesars said the building represents Detroit's first newly constructed corporate headquarters building in more than a decade.

A groundbreaking is planned this summer on the building, which will be located across Woodward Avenue from Comerica Park, the home of the Detroit Tigers, and near Little Caesars Arena, the new home of the Detroit Red Wings that's under construction.

Mike and Marian Ilitch co-founded Little Caesars in 1959 and bought the Red Wings in 1982. Mike Ilitch bought the Tigers in 1992. Renderings show a skywalk connecting the Global Resource Center with the building housing the Fox Theatre, which the Ilitches restored and includes Little Caesars' headquarters.

Little Caesars Arena should open in 2017 after the team plays a final season at Joe Louis Arena.

Little Caesars said the up to 700 jobs that the Global Resource Center will be able to accommodate could include new positions or relocated jobs from other offices. It noted, however, that its growth is expected to mean adding hundreds of new jobs in the coming years.

The jobs estimate is up from 600 announced in 2014 and the updated plans for the Global Resource Center are one story taller than earlier planned. Little Caesars moved its headquarters downtown in 1989.

The new building will allow us to accommodate up to 700 additional people in the Global Resource Center, which is on top of the work spaces we have available in the Fox Office Center. That could include new positions and relocating positions from other offices. Little Caesars is rapidly growing and we do expect to add hundreds of job over the coming years.

The Global Resource Center is part of a broader development project in the area called The District Detroit that includes the new arena and other entertainment venues and housing developments. Little Caesars said that its new building will help spur continued redevelopment in Detroit.

The Global Resource Center "is an important anchor for The District Detroit and will appeal to national and local retailers who want proximity to a global brand with Detroit roots," said Steve Marquardt, vice president of Olympia Development of Michigan, the Ilitch-owned business developing the project.